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The  C.  E.  CONOVER  CO.,  MIrs.  101  Franklin  St.,  NEW  YORK 


vograp/uf  or 

vfdmiral  Dewey 


This   part   of  Admiral    Dewey's  narrative 
carries  us  through  Hie  final   years   of  the 
Civil  War.    It  is  a  record  of  his  varied  and 
useful  service    aboard    the  "Monongahcla," 
the  "Brooklyn,"  the  " Agawaim," 


A  FTER  the  battle  of 
l\  Port    Hudson    I 

/  \       had   a    radica 
/      \      change  of  occu- 
JL         jL.   pation    and 
scene.   My  new  duties  called 
for  the  abilities  of  a  judge 
and  a  merchant  rather  than 
those    associated   with  my 
profession.    As  Prize  Com- 
missioner at  New  Orleans 
I  had  to   adjudicate  con- 
troversies concerning  cargo 
captured  on  the  blockade, 
and,  when  I  had  declared 
it  legitimate  prize,  to  sell  it 
for  the  government.    As  most 
of  the  contraband  was  cot- 
ton, I  became  quite  an 
expert  in  the  fluct- 
uations of  the 
cotton  mar- 
ket. 


the  "Colorado"  and  a  word  pic- 
lure  of  the  momentous  battle  of  Fort 
Fisher.  The  close  of  the  war  finds 
Dewey  a  Lieutenant  Commander  at  the 
age   of  twenty-eight 


The  auctioneer  who 
acted  as  salesman  for 
me,   though   born    in 
Kentucky,  was  a  pro- 
nounced Union  man. 
When  he  first  came 
to  New  Orleans  he 
had    sold    a    great 
many   negroes  as  a 
matter  of  course  in 
his  business.   Though 
this   was    not  exactly 
agreeable  work,  he  had 
not  developed  any  keen 
sensitiveness   about 
it.      Slavery    was    an    ac- 
cepted     institution 
to    which    every- 
body   had    become 
accustomed. 
However,    a 
single    re- 
volting and 


Dewey  as  Lieutenant  Commander  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  was  executive  officer  of  the  Kearsarge  when  the  war  ended 

4i 


42 


Hearst's  Magazine 


illuminating  experience  made  him  an  abo- 
litionist. 

One  day  he  was  asked  to  go  to  a  hotel 
to  look  at  some  human  "property"  with  a 
view  to  its  sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  The 
man  who  owned  the  "property"  took  him 
into  a  room  where  three  girls  were  seated 
sewing.  The  girls,  being  octoroons  and  hav- 
ing the  peculiarly  white  complexion  of  many 
octoroons,  were,  as  the  auctioneer  declared, 
whiter  than  his  own  daughter. 

"I  told  that  fellow  that  he  would  have  to 
get  somebody  else  to  sell  those  girls,  "he  said. 

He  made  up  his  mind  that  an  institution 
that  permitted  such  a  thing  ought  to  be 
wiped  out.  He  was  not  against  the  South, 
but  against  slavery. 

As  I  lived  ashore  rather  than  on  shipboard 
I  came  to  see  a  great  deal  more  of  New 
Orleans  than  I  had  while  I  was  serving  on  a 
ship  alongside  the  wharves.  The  life  of  the 
city  had  now  adapted  itself  to  the  Union 
occupation.  Business  went  on  quite  as  usual. 
Except  for  the  absence  of  many  of  the  men 
in  the  Confederate  army,  you  would  hardly 
have  realized  that  a  state  of  war  existed. 

ENJOYING    THE    NEW    ORLEANS    COOKING 

With  the  appetite  of  youth,  after  navy 
rations  and  that  stiff  fight  at  Port  Hudson, 
I  was  able  to  do  justice  to  New  Orleans 
cookery,  which  I  found  was  worthy  of  its 
reputation.  Never  before  had  I  known 
such  good  food  and  so  cheap.  We  had  not 
only  the  pompano  and  other  delicious  fish, 
but  also  that  delectable  upland  plover,  the 
"papabote." 

My  service  as  Prize  Commissioner  was 
relatively  brief.  Summer  found  me  back  on 
the  river  as  executive  officer  of  the  sloop 
Monongahela,  which  was  stationed  below 
Port  Hudson,  under  my  old  Captain  Mel- 
ancthon  Smith,  for  a  short  time  until  he 
was  ordered  North,  and  Captain  Abner 
Read  took  command.  As  the  Hartford  was 
above  Port  Hudson,  Farragut  made  the 
Monongahela  his  flagship  when  he  was  look- 
ing after  operations  on  the  lower  reaches  of 
the  river.  He  lived  mostly  on  deck  and 
naturally  at  such  close  quarters  that  I  saw  a 
great  deal  of  him. 

He  was  not  given  to  "paper  work"  or  red 
tape,  by  which  I  mean  lengthy  written  de- 
tail in  his  conduct  of  operations.  I  remem- 
ber the  simplicity  of  his  methods  particu- 
larly in  contrast  with  those  of  another 
admiral     with     less     responsibility,     who 


could  not  get  along  without  a  force  of 
clerks.  There  was  a  saying  that  his  princi- 
pal place  for  filing  papers  was  his  own 
coat  pocket.  His  was  the  supreme  gift  of 
directness  and  simplicity  in  great  affairs,  so 
valuable  in  time  of  war.  Generally  he 
wrote  his  orders  himself,  perhaps  with  his 
knee  or  the  ship's  rail  as  a  rest.  I  recall 
that  one  day  when  he  was  writing  he  looked 
up  and  said: 

"Now,  how  in  the  devil  do  you  spell  Apa- 
lachicola?  Some  of  these  educated  young 
fellows  from  Annapolis  must  know!" 

FARRAGUT,    SIMPLE   AND   DEMOCRATIC 

A  man  who  had  such  an  important  com- 
mand could  hardly  have  been  more  demo- 
cratic. One  night  I  had  given  orders  for  a 
thorough  cleaning  of  the  ship  on  the  next 
morning.  I  was  awake  very  early,  for  it 
was  stiflingly  hot.  Five  o'clock  came  and  I 
heard  no  sound  of  the  holystones  on  the 
deck.  So  I  went  above  to  find  out  why  my 
orders  were  not  obeyed,  and  my  frame  of 
mind  for  the  moment  was  entirely  that  of 
the  disciplinarian.  There  was  no  activity 
at  all  on  deck.  I  looked  around  for  the 
officer  of  the  deck.  He  was  an  old  New  Eng- 
land whaler,  brown  as  a  buccaneer,  who  had 
enlisted  for  the  war  from  the  merchant 
service.  I  recollect  that  he  wore  small  gold 
rings  in  his  ears,  a  custom  with  some  of  the 
old-fashioned  merchant  sailors  who  had 
traveled  the  world  over.  I  found  him 
seated  up  in  the  hammock  netting  where  it 
was  cool,  with  Farragut  at  his  side. 

"Why  aren't  you  cleaning  ship?  "  I  asked. 

"I  think  I  am  to  blame,"  said  Farragut, 
with  his  pleasant  smile.  "We  two  veterans 
have  been  swapping  yarns  about  sailing- 
ship  days." 

As  a  rule,  no  captain  or  executive  officer 
likes  having  his  ship  the  flagship  of  a  com- 
mander-in-chief. But  Farragut  was  so  sim- 
ple in  his  manners  and  so  free  from  the  exac- 
tions due  to  official  rank,  that  he  was  most  wel- 
come, crowded  as  our  quarters  were.  Being 
a  companionable  man  he  liked  company, 
even  when  he  was  under  fire.  I  recall  a  cer- 
tain afternoon  when  he  announced  that  he 
was  going  in  his  little  steam  tender  to  have 
a  look  at  the  Port  Hudson  batteries.  First 
he  asked  Captain  Thornton  A.  Jenkins,  his 
chief  of  staff,  if  he  would  not  like  to  come 
along.  The  captain  begged  to  be  excused. 
Then  he  asked  Captain  Smith,  who  also 
begged  to  be  excused.     Neither  saw  any 


The  Autobiography  of  Admiral  Dewey 


43 


purpose  in  an  interruption  of  his  duties  to  make  a  trip  in  the  heat 

in  order  to  be  shot  at.     But  Farragut  was  not  going  alone.     He 

clapped  me  on  the  shoulder  and  said,  "  Come  along,  youngster ! "  which 

was  equivalent  to  a  command  to  one  of  my  rank.     As  I  went  over  the 

side  Captain  Jenkins  said  to  me: 

"Did  you  ever  know  a  man  before  who  always  had  a  bee  buzzing 
in- his  ear?" 

We  went  up  into  the  range  of  the  batteries  and  drew  their  fire. 

in  a  zigzag  course  we 

gut  seemed  to  be 

No    doubt,    he 

he    wanted. 

the    Mononga- 

call  in  my  ca- 

ing  up  the  river 

escorting  a  small 

gunboat    with 

ammunition 


The  wooden  ship  Brooklyn  was  unable  to  cope  with  the  ironsides  and  was  sent  to  the  navy  yard. 

allowed  a  brief  holiday 


Dewey  was  then 


44 


Hearst's  Magazine 


for  Banks's  army.     As  I  have  previously  mentioned,  all  that  a  field 
battery  had  to  do  in  order  to  have  a  little  practice  against  a 
Union  man-of-war  was  to  cut  embrasures  for  their  guns 
in   the   levee   and  let   drive.      The   levee  furnished 
both  an  excellent  screen  and  excellent  protection. 
In  fact,  the  gunners  used  these   embrasures 
with  much  the   effect  of  the  modern  dis- 
appearing gun.     They  ran   the  muzzle 
through     the     opening     when     they 
wanted  to  fire  and  then  drew  it  back 
out    of    sight    for    loading,    with 
neither  themselves  nor  the  gun 
at  all  exposed,  while  our  shots 
would   either   be    buried    in 
the  levee  walls  or  ■  whistle 
harmlessly  overhead.    But 
a  man-of-war  was  a  big 
target,  and  a  single  shot 
striking  in  a  vital  part 
might  do  great  damage. 
When   a  field   bat- 
tery,  hidden   in    the 
fashion    I   have  de- 
scribed, unexpect- 
edly opened  on  the 
Monongahela  at 
close  range  in  the 
vicinity  of  Donel- 
sonville,    Captain 
Jenkins,  Farragut's 


At  Charleston  Dewey  got  his  first  view  of  the  Monitor  type  of  man-of-war,  the  successful 

The  Monitor  with  its  revolving  turret  was 


11  THE  MK.EKVK  I'OU.dTIO*  01   1MKI1H 


The  Autobiography  of  Admiral  Dewey 


45 


chief  of  staff,  who  was  aboard,  thought  that  the  only  thing  to  do  was 

to  get  out  of  range   at  full  speed.    This  did  seem  the  part  of 

wisdom.    Certainly  our   experience  proved  that  it  was 

for  poor  Read.      He  paid  the  penalty  for  taking  a 

contrary  view. 

"I  have  never  run  from  any  rebel  yet," 
Read  declared,  "and   I'm   not    going   to 
run  now." 

So  he  slowed  the  Monongahda  down 
to    engage   the   battery.     He   and 
Captain  Jenkins  and  myself  were 
standing    near    one    an- 
other   on    the    quarter 
deck  and  we  had   fired 
only  a  few  shots  when 
there  was  a  blinding  flash 
in  my  eyes.    I   felt   the 
stunning    effect    of    the 
concussion    of    an    ex- 
ploding  shell,  —  which 
always  raises  the  ques- 
tion of  whether  you 
will  be  alive  or  dead 
the    next    second. 
I       However,  I  realized 
that  I  was  unhurt 
and    as   the   air 
cleared  and  I  was 
once   more  stand- 
ing solidly  on  my 


conflict  with  the  Mcrrimac  having  stimulated  the  construction  of  these  effective  little  vessels, 
the  forerunner  of  the  modern  battleship 


46 


Hearst's  Magazine 


feet,  with  full  possession  of    my 
faculties,  I  saw  Read  prostrate 
on  the  deck,  his  clothing  badly 
torn   and   blood   pouring  from 
several  places.    Captain  Jenkins 
was  also   down.     It  was  clear 
that  the  command  of  the  ship 
had  devolved   upon  me,   so    I 
gave   the   ori;r,    "Full 
speed  ahead!"     The 
Monongahela    being 
very  fast  for  a  ship 
of   her   time,    was 
soon  out  of  range 
of  the  batteries. 

Captain  Read  had 
been     mortally 
wounded  and  died  the 
next   day,   while    Cap- 
tain Jenkins  had   been 
wounded  slightly,  but  in 
a  curious  way.    The  shell 
had  exploded  at  a  point 
in  the  ship's  side  where  a 
rack  of  cutlasses  was  lo- 
cated, and  had   hurled 
fragments  of  cutlass  in 
all    directions.     Al- 
though our  station  on 
the  quarter  deck  was 
some    distance    from 
the  point   of   explo- 
sion, a  cutlass  blade 
(about  half   length) 
had  struck  Captain 
Jenkins's  leg  with 
such  force  as  to 
knock   him 


Commodore  Thatcher, 
Dewey's  commanding 
officer  on  the  Colorado 


down.  That  nothing  worse  than 
a  bruise  resulted  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  blade  struck  fairly 
with  its  flat  surface.  Had  the 
edge  been  turned,  a  serious  injury 
wculd  have  been  inflicted. 

When  we  ex- 
amined the  spread 
of  the  shell  by  the 
places  where  the 
fragments  had  struck,  it  was 
inexplicable    how    I    had 
ever  escaped  without  a 
scratch.      It  almost 
made  me    believe 
in  luck.  For  that 
matter,    anyone 
who    had    seen 
much   fighting 
becomes  a  sort 
of  fatalist.    Evi- 
dently   my    time    had 
not  yet  come. 

With  the  taking  of 
Vicksburg  in  July,  Port 
Hudson  fell  in  consequence. 
At  last  President  Lincoln 
had  his  wish.    The  Mis- 
sissippi "flowed   unvexed 
to  the  sea."     There  was 
no  longer  the  need  of  any 
large    naval    force    on 
the   river.     I    was 
transferred    to     the 
Brooklyn,    Captain 
Emmons,    w  h  i  c  h 
had    been   or- 
dered North 


The  Agawam,  a  third-rate 
wooden  side-wheel 


steamer  which  was  Dewey': 
berth  for  one  year 


The  Autobiography  of  Admiral  Dewey 


47 


to  report  to  Rear-Admiral  Dahlgren,  who 
was  in  charge  of  the  blockade  off  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina. 

On  the  James  River 

AFTER  eighteen  months  of  service  on  sea- 
■  going  ships  navigating  a  river,  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  be  back  in  a  seagoing  ship's 
natural  element;  and  I-  thoroughly  en- 
joyed our  cruise  across  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
with  our  sails  spread.  Captain  Emmons, 
who  had  his  nickname  as  every  officer  of  the 
navy  had,  was  known  as  "  Pop."  He  would 
never  get  my  name  right,  always  calling  me 
"Mr.  Dewar."  We  stopped  in  at  Port 
Royal,  and  I  recall,  as  we  entered  the 
harbor,  that  I  was  standing  between  him 
and  the  pilot  when  we  sighted  a  vessel 
coming  out. 

"Starboard  the  helm!"  said  the  pilot. 

"Port  the  helm!"  said  Captain  Emmons. 

"Steady!"  I  said.      '■' 

Captain  Emmons  turned  on  me. 

"What  do  you  mean,  Mr.  Dewar,  by 
countermanding  my  orders?"  he  demanded. 

"Well,  sir,  the  pilot  said  starboard  and 
you  said  port,  so  I  wanted  to  avoid  having 
the  helmsman  try  to  do  both  at  once,"  I 
responded. 

"  Steady,  then ! "  returned  the  captain.  It 
transpired  that  this  compromise  in  author- 
ity saved  us  from  any  danger  of  collision. 

FIRST   VIEW   OF   THE   MONITORS 

Upon  our  arrival  at  Charleston,  while 
Captain  Emmons  went  on  board  Dahlgren 's 
flagship  to  report,  we  had  time  to  look  over 
his  vessels  and  to  realize  how  suicidal  it 
would  be  for  us  to  join  in  any  attack  on  the 
defenses  of  the  harbor.  We  had  an  exam- 
ple in  the  monitors,  which  we  saw  for  the 
first  time,  of  how  rapidly  both  the  offensive 
and  the  defensive  features  of  men-of-war 
had  improved  under  the  impulse  of  war  con- 
ditions. Besides  the  division  of  monitors 
with  their  revolving  turrets — modeled  on 
that  first  experiment  which  had  driven  the 
Confederate  Merrimac  {Virginia)  to  cover — 
was  the  New  Ironsides  that  foUowed  con- 
ventional ship  construction  and  had  ar- 
mored sides.  The  combination  of  the  two 
principles,  an  armored  ship  with  revolving 
turrets,  forms  the  principle  of  the  battle- 
ship of  to-day. 

Having  been  executive  officer  of  one  ship 
that  had  been  lost,  I  did  not  care  to  repeat 


the  experience.  We  were  all  pleased  when 
Captain  Emmons  came  off  to  report  that 
it  was  not  the  Brooklyn  that  Dahlgren 
wanted,  but  Captain  Emmons  to  serve  on 
his  staff.  So  the  Brooklyn  proceeded  to  the 
New  York  Na\y  Yard  to  be  overhauled 
before  returning  to  Farragut's  command  in 
the  Gulf,  where  she  was  to  participate  in 
the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay.  Meanwhile,  I 
had  my  first  holiday  from  duty  since  the 
war  had  begun,  which  I  spent  at  my  home 
in  Vermont. 

GOOD    SEAMANSHIP    ON   A   DOTJBLE-ENDER 

My  next  ship  was  hardly  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  Mississippi,  the  Monongahela, 
or  the  Brooklyn.  I  was  to  put  the  Agawam, 
a  third  rate,  wooden,  sidewheel  steamer, 
into  commission  at  Portsmouth.  My 
friends  explained  to  me  that  I  had  been 
given  this  task  in  organization  and  disci- 
pline because  I  had  made  a  reputation  as  an 
executive  officer  equal  to  any  emergency. 
However  that  may  be,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  both  the  crew  of  the  Agawam 
and  the  nature  of  the  vessel  and  of  the 
service  expected  of  her,  gave  me  quite 
enough  to  do  from  the  moment  that  I  re- 
ported on  board  her  in  November,  1863, 
until  I  was  detached  from  her  a  year  later. 

She  was  built  particularly  for  river 
service  and  being  a  double-ender,  with  two 
rudders  of  the  ferryboat  type,  she  was  as 
difficult  in  handling  as  in  keeping  ship- 
shape. During  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1S64  I  saw  some  pretty  active  and  trying 
service  on  the  James  River,  where  we  were 
operating  in  support  of  General  Butler's 
abortive  expedition  toward  Richmond,  while 
Grant  was  fighting  the  Wilderness  cam- 
paign. 

For  about  a  month  the  Agawam  was  the 
flagship  of  Rear-Admiral  S.  P.  Lee,  com- 
manding the  North  Atlantic  Squadron.  Lee 
was  another  one  of  the  captains  who,  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  was  still  in  the 
prime  of  his  powers.  He  was  off  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  in  command  of  a  ship  bound 
for  China,  when  he  heard  that  Sumter  had 
been  fired  on.  Without  waiting  on  an  order 
from  Washington  he  started  home  on  his 
own  responsibility,  in  the  conviction  that 
the  sendees  of  his  ship  would  be  needed. 
He  was  a  man  of  prodigious  and  conscien- 
tious industry. 

The  Agawam' s  most  important  action 
occupied  her  off   and  on  for  six  days  in 


48 


Hearst's  Magazine 


pounding  the  Confederate  batteries  at  Four 
Mile  Creek  to  aid  General  Butler's  attack- 
On  the  first  day  we  engaged  one  battery  of 
rifled  guns  which  we  could  locate  and  two 
batteries  of  mortars  and  heavy  guns  which 
we  could  not  locate;  and  we  kept  up  a  con- 
tinuous fire  for  four  hours,  until  our  ammu- 
nition was  exhausted.  But  we  had  pretty 
well  silenced  the  enemy  before  we  drew  off 
and  on  succeeding  days  we  did  not  have  to 
endure  so  heavy  a  fire.  The  Agawam  was 
little  damaged,  though  hit  a  number  of 
times,  and  our  only  loss  was  by  an  exploding 
shell  on  the  quarter  deck  killing  two  men 
and  wounding  six. 

In  one  sense  the  fighting  was  the  easiest 
part  of  the  work.  The  hard  part  was  the 
life  aboard  the  stuffy  double-ender  in  the 
midst  of  heat  and  mosquitoes,  striving  all 
the  while  to  develop  a  kind  of  efficiency 
suited  to  the  tasks  for  which  such  a  clumsy 
craft  was  adapted. 

ON  BOARD  THE  "COLORADO" 

When  Rear- Admiral  David  D.  Porter 
succeeded  Rear-Admiral  Lee  in  command 
of  the  North  Atlantic  Squadron  in  Septem- 
ber, 1864,  he  sent  for  me  to  become  execu- 
tive officer  of  the  Minnesota,  one  of  the  big 
steam  frigates  of  the  same  class  as  the 
Wabash  in  which  I  had  made  my  midship- 
man cruise  on  the  Mediterranean.  But  I 
was  on  board  the  Minnesota  less  than  one 
day.  Her  captain  voiced  the  old  complaint 
about  my  youth,  and  Porter  not  being  of  the 
mind  to  assign  him  an  executive  whom  he 
did  not  want,  I  returned  to  the  Agawam. 

But  Porter  had  kept  me  in  mind,  and 
later  he  wrote  to  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  Fox  asking  him  to  assign  me  to  be 
executive  officer  of  the  Colorado,  of  the 
same  class  as  the  Wabash.  From  the  out- 
set of  the  war,  Fox  had  had  great  confidence 
in  Porter's  judgment;  and  so,  in  spite  of 
my  youth — twenty-seven — I  was  to  have  a 
position  which  is  equivalent  in  these  days  to 
being  executive  of  a  first-class  battleship. 
Instead  of  vegetating  on  the  Agawam  on 
river  blockade  duty,  I  was  to  be  in  both 
actions  against  Fort  Fisher,  for  which 
Porter  was  now  making  his  preparations. 

The  Battle  of  Fort  Fisher 

WE  were  now  coining  to  the  final  act  of 
the  terrific  drama  of  civil  conflict. 
With  the  length  of  the  Mississippi  in  our 


possession,  with  every  port  on  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  flying  the  national  flag,  our  forces 
were  closing  in  on  the  last  remnants  of  the 
Confederacy,  which  had  only  two  ports 
remaining  that  would  admit  of  the  ap- 
proach of  a  vessel  of  over  twelve  feet 
draught,  Charleston  in  South  Carolina  and 
Wilmington  in  North  Carolina. 

Charleston  was  not  so  difficult  to  block- 
ade as  Wilmington.  While  we  had  some 
twenty  vessels  on  the  blockade  off  Charles- 
ton, more  than  thirty  had  usually  been 
watching  off  the  two  entrances  to  Wilming- 
ton. Even  then  the  runners  would  fre- 
quently slip  by  under  cover  of  fog  or  when 
a  gale  was  blowing.  The  Confederates  fully 
realized  the  strategic  importance  of  the 
position,  and  commanding  New  Inlet,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  was  Fort 
Fisher,  which  they  had  sought  to  make  im- 
pregnable with  all  the  resources  at  their 
command.  Once  both  Charleston  and  Wil- 
mington were  effectually  closed,  then,  with 
Sherman's  army  swinging  in  northward  and 
Grant's  approaching  Richmond,  the  enemy 
was  literally  sealed  up  and  must  face  the 
spring  of  1865  without  hope  of  supplies. 

The  plan  was  to  silence  Fort  Fisher  by 
the  fire  of  the  fleet  and  then  to  take  it  by 
assault  with  troops,  which  were  brought  by 
sea  under  General  Butler.  For  the  purpose 
Porter  had  the  largest  naval  force  yet  as- 
sembled. Including  every  available  fight- 
ing ship,  it  was  even  more  heterogeneous 
than  that  of  Farragut  at  New  Orleans.  Big 
frigates  of  the  Colorado  type,  ironclads 
and  monitors,  double-enders,  gunboats 
and  merchant  vessels  transformed  into 
ships  of  war,  and  every  one,  according  to 
the  American  custom,  bristling  with  all  the 
armament  that  it  could  possibly  carry.  The 
Colorado,  which  had  an  armament  of  forty 
smooth-bore  guns  before  the  war,  now  had 
one  rifled  150-pounder,  one  eleven-inch 
shell  gun  and  forty-six  nine-inch  shell  guns. 

AN   EXPERIMENT    IN   DISCIPLINE 

Commodore  H.  K.  Thatcher,  in  com- 
mand of  the  Colorado,  welcomed  me  on 
board  heartily,  notwithstanding  my  youth. 
He  said  that  the  ship  was  in  a  bad  state  and 
gave  me  full  authority  in  the  government  of 
the  crew  of  seven  hundred  men.  My  prede- 
cessor as  executive  officer  had  had  a  pretty 
wearing  and  unhappy  time  of  it  and  was 
retired  shortly  after  leaving  the  ship. 
There  had  been  as  many  as  a  hundred  men 


The  Autobiography  of  Admiral  Dewey 


49 


in  irons  chained  between  the  guns  along  the 
gun  deck  at  one  time.  As  officers  passed 
along  the  men  would 
call  out:  "Look  at 
the    brass    bound 

,"    "brass 

bound"  refer- 
ring to  the  offi- 
cer's gold  braid. 
My    predecessor 

Major-General  Terry,  effi 
cient   commander  of  the 
land  forces  in  the  at 
tack  on  Fort  Fisher 


was  what  is  known  as  a  rather  erratic  mar- 
tinet. He  was  harsh,  yet  he  did  not  secure 
discipline.  I  was  told  that  one  of  his  fa- 
vorite questions  to  a  culprit  had  been: 
"How  would  you  like  to  walk  through  hell 
barefoot?"  One  seaman  was  reported  to 
have  answered:  "A  dozen  times  to  get  out 
of  this!" 

I  did  not  mean  on  a  ship  where  I  was 
responsible  for  discipline  to  have  a 
-u_        hundred   men    in   chains    on    the 
gun  deck  or  to  have  them  calling 
out    abusive    epithets    to    their 
superiors.    If  the  state  of  insub- 
ordination on  board  had  been 
responsible   for   Porter's   de- 
sire   to    have   me    become 
executive  of  the  Colora- 
do, then  I  felt  myself 
bound  to   live  up   to 
his  expectations.     It 
had  been  my  experi- 
ence   that    only    a 
minority    of    any 
crew  were   trouble- 
makers.   A  larger 
proportion  was    all 


Fort  Fisher  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Caoe  Fear  River,  was 

silenced  after  a  ter- 


rific    bombardment.     Its 
capture  was  the  turning  point  in 
the  naval  campaign 


50 


Hearst's  Magazine 


on  the  side  of  discipline  and  decency. 
But  one  professional  tough  is  capable  of 
corrupting  at  "least  two  other  men  who  are 
easily  led.  It  was  a  case  of  my  being  master, 
or  the  rough  element  being  master. 

Gradually  I  was  able  to  identify  the 
worst  characters.  They  were  the  ones  I 
had  to  tame,  and  then  those  who  were  in- 
subordinate out  of  a  spirit  of  emulation, 
would  easily  fall  into  line.  The  ringleader 
was  a  giant,  red-headed  Englishman  by  the 
name  of  Webster.  Many  of  his  mates  were  in 
bodily  fear  of  this  great  brute.  The  prison 
being  full,  I  had  him  put  down  in  the  hold 
in  irons. 

AN   UNSUCCESSFUL   EXPERIMENT 

One  day  I  heard  a  breaking  of  glass  and 
the  orderly  reported  to  me  that  Webster 
had  broken  free  of  his  irons,  had  driven 
the  sentry  out  of  the  hold  and  in  a  blind 
rage  was  breaking  up  stone  bottles  of  soda 
and  ale  which  were  stored  there.  I  sent  the 
master  at  arms  to  arrest  him  and  the  master 
at  arms  came  back  to  report  that  Webster 
had  sworn  that  he  would  kill  the  first  man 
who  tried  to  come  down  the  ladder  into  the 
hold. 

Such  a  situation  was  not  to  be  endured. 
I  took  my  revolver  and  started  for  the  hold. 
When  I  came  to  the  ladder  Webster  yelled 
up  the  threat  which  had  made  the  others 
hesitate  in  view  of  his  known  ferocity.  Of 
course,  anyone  going  down  the  ladder 
would  expose  his  whole  body  to  an  attack 
before  his  head  was  below  the  deck  level 
and  he  could  see  the  adversary.  But  any 
temporizing  with  the  fellow  meant  a  bad 
effect  on  the  whole  ship's  company. 

"Webster,  this  is  the  executive  officer, 
Mr.  Dewey,"  I  called  to  him.  "I  am  com- 
ing down  and,  Webster,  you  may  be  sure 
of  this,  if  you  raise  a  finger  against  me  I  shall 
kill  you."' 

I  stepped  down  the  ladder  quickly,  to  see 
Webster  standing  with  a  stone  ale  bottle  in 
his  hand  ready  to  throw.  But  he  did  not 
throw  it  and  submitted  to  arrest  peaceably. 

This  incident  and  a  few  others,  while  the 
junior  officers  were  developing  a  new  spirit 
under  Commodore  Thatcher's  wise  support 
and  firm  direction,  soon  brought  a  change 
over  the  ship.  The  ruffians  were  cowed  and 
we  were  free  of  the  obnoxious  spectacle  of 
men  in  irons  on  the  gun  deck  and  of  abuse 
in  answer  to  an  officer's  commands. 

The  Confederates  had  counted  much  on 


the  weather  to  delay  any  bombardment  on 
Fort  Fisher.  December  and  January  are 
the  season  of  the  heaviest  blows  off  the 
coast.  While  preparing  for  the  attack  the 
ships  must  lie  exposed  to  the  seas  sweeping 
in  from  the  open  ocean.  A  gale  rose  just  as 
the  fleet  was  mobilizing.  It  dragged  many 
anchors  and  pretty  well  dispersed  the  ves- 
sels, increasing  the  discomforts  of  the  sol- 
diers aboard  the  transports  by  seasickness. 

An  act  of  gallantry  of  the  same  order  as 
that  of  Lieutenants  Crosby  and  Caldwell  in 
cutting  through  the  obstructions  above 
Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip  was  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  actual  bombardment  and 
assault.  An  old  vessel,  the  Louisiana,  was 
filled  with  powder  and  disguised  as  a  block- 
ade runner,  with  a  view  to  running  her  in 
close  to  Fort  Fisher  in  the  night  and  desert- 
ing her  after  laying  time  fuses  to  the  powder. 
It  was  thought  that  the  force  of  the  ex- 
plosion of  such  an  enormous  amount  of 
powder  would  damage  the  fort  and  dis- 
mount the  guns.  Commander  Rhind,  my 
old  captain  of  the  Agawam,  was  in  charge 
of  the  undertaking.  He  carried  it  out  with- 
out being  discovered  by  the  enemy. 

The  effect  of  the  enormous  charge,  which 
was  necessarily  at  some  distance  from  the 
fort,  was  negligible  for  our  purposes.  This 
experiment  belonged  in  the  category  of  the 
novelist  rather  than  in  practical  warfare. 
It  was  magnificent  and  spectacular  but  not 
helpful,  as  both  Porter  and  Butler  were 
soon  to  learn. 

At  daylight  our  ill-assorted  fleet  stood  in 
for  New  Inlet  which  the  forts  commanded. 
We  were  attempting  something  in  the  way  of 
formation  which  this  fleet  had  never  tried, 
but  which  would  have  been  child's  play  to 
a  fleet  of  the  present  time.  An  officer  who 
may  have  been  with  our  squadron  entering 
Manila  Bay,  with  the  ships  keeping  their 
intervals  precisely,  or  who  is  used  to  the 
manoeuvres  of  the  North  Atlantic  fleet  at 
the  time  of  writing,  can  hardly  realize  the 
difficulty  of  securing  anything  like  precision 
with  the  utterly  inharmonious  elements 
that  Porter  had  under  his  command. 

THE  ATTACK  UPON  THE  FORT 

Shortly  before  i  P.M.,  the  New  Ironsides, 
which  was  at  the  head  of  the  first  division, 
opened  fire;  and  at  1.30  the  Colorado,  sec- 
ond in  the  column  of  the  heavy  ships,  or 
the  second  division,  was  engaged.  Each 
vessel  dropped  anchor  from  bow  and  stern. 


The  Autobiography  of  Admiral  Dewey 


5i 


Each  one  practically  became  a  floating  bat- 
tery pouring  shells  into  the  fort.  For  over 
three  hours  the  cannonade  continued,  that 
of  the  fort  gradually  weakening.  When 
the  flagship  signaled  at  5.30,  "Prepare  to 
./retire  for  the  night,"  it  seemed  to  us  that  we 
had  pretty  effectually  silenced  Fisher.  The 
Colorado  had  been  struck  a  number  of  times, 
but  not  seriously.  All  the  casualties  in  the 
fleet  that  day,  with  the  exception  of  a  boiler 
explosion  on  the  Mackinaw,  were  due  to  the 
bursting  of  the  100-pounder  Parrot  rifled 
guns.  These  proved  to  be  about  as  danger- 
ous to  us  as  to  the  enemy  and  were  not  used 
again. 

Meanwhile,  the  transports  had  been  de- 
layed in  getting  up.  But  that  night  all  ar- 
rived and  the  land  attack  was  planned  for 
the  following  day.  Having  found  that  the 
depth  of  water  permitted,  the  Colorado, 
Minnesota  and  Wabash,  heavy  draught 
ships,  were  the  next  morning  able  to  ap- 
proach closer  to  the  fort.  We  fired  at  slow 
intervals,  as  if  we  were  at  target  practice, 
and  we  could  see  shell  after  shell  taking 
effect.  It  seemed  as  if  our  fire  must  reduce 
these  earthworks  to  so  many  sand  dunes. 
With  such  a  long  line  of  ships  firing  and  at 
such  a  long  face  of  works ;  with  the  air  in  a 
continual  thunder  and  screech,  there  was 
no  time  to  observe  anything  except  the 
work  of  your  own  ship  and  the  signals  from 
the  flagship. 

DRIVEN   BACK 

The  Minnesota  and  the  Colorado  re- 
mained anchored  before  the  forts  while  the 
rest  of  the  fleet  was  passing  out  of  range. 
Suddenly  the  batteries  concentrated  on  us. 
Our  capstan  was  shot  away;  a  ten-inch 
solid  shot  penetrated  the  starboard  side, 
carrying  away  the  lock  and  screw  of  No.  4 
gun,  killing  one  man  and  wounding  five 
men  and  carrying  away  the  axle  and  star- 
board truck  of  No.  5  gun  on  the  port  side. 

It  was  a  time  for  quick  thinking  on  the 
bridge.  We  had  been  told  to  discontinue 
action,  but  not  to  withdraw;  and  it  was 
out  of  the  question  to  endure  that  grilling 
fire  in  which  we  were  being  repeatedly  hit. 
For  an  instant  the  alternative  of  slipping 
anchors  and  steaming  away  was  considered 
by  Commodore  Thatcher,  but  that  meant 
retreat  without  orders  and  possibly  having 
our  decision  misconstrued,  while  we  should 
be  heavily  pounded  in  the  very  act  of  retir- 
ing.   We  had  silenced  those  guns  that  were 


barking  at  us  once  and  we  could  do  it  again, 
the  commodore  concluded.  As  senior  offi- 
cer present  he  signaled  the  Minnesota  to 
fire  for  her  own  protection  and  repeated 
to  the  flagship  the  reason  why  we.  were 
opening  fire  contrary  to  orders.  I  ran 
along  the  gun  deck,  where  I  found  the  men 
chafing  in  their  inaction  or  astounded  and 
apprehensive  over  the  damage  that  was 
being  wrought,  and  I  kept  calling: 

"Fire!  Fire  as  fast  as  you  can!  That  is 
the  way  to  stop  their  fire!" 

Our  gun  crews  obeyed  with  the  avidity  of 
desperation.  Occupation  with  their  work 
gave  them  no  time  to  consider  the  effect  of 
the  enemy's  shells,  to  which  our  guns 
blazed  in  answer  with  telling  accuracy.  The 
batteries  found  out  that  we  were  anything 
but  disabled,  and  they  were  silent  when  the 
signal  from  the  flagship  came,  this  time  not 
to  discontinue  but  to  retire  from  action. 
These  few  minutes  of  splendid  and  effec- 
tive gunnery  developed  a  fine  spirit  in  the 
whole  ship.  We  steamed  out  of  range  with 
the  satisfaction  of  the  victor  amid  the  cheers 
of  the  fleet. 

All  day  we  had  been  watching  in  vain  for 
signs  of  the  approach  of  the  army's  assault- 
ing force  over  the  sand  dunes.  When  we 
received  orders  that  night  to  proceed  to  our 
base  at  Beaufort  we  knew  that  Fort  Fisher 
was  not  to  be  ours  this  time.  Butler  had 
decided  that  the  fire  of  the  fleet  had  not 
done  the  fort  enough  damage  to  make  the 
assault  practicable ;  and  after  all  the  powder 
we  had  burned  he  returned  with  his  troops 
on  board  his  transports. 

BUTLER    IS    SUPERSEDED 

It  is  not  for  me  to  go  into  the  details  of  an 
old  controversy;  but  the  fact  remains  that 
three  weeks  later  another  assault  did  suc- 
ceed after  the  defenses  of  Fort  Fisher  had 
been  considerably  strengthened.  The  up- 
shot was  not  an  altogether  felicitous  ending  of 
Butler's  military  career,  and  its  lesson  would 
seem  to  be  that  the  thing  to  do  when  your 
country  expects  you  to  attack  is  to  attack. 

While  Porter  was  continuing  the  blockade 
he  sent  any  vessels  not  needed  for  this  pur- 
pose to  Beaufort  for  ammunition,  and 
asked  for  further  instructions.  Their  char- 
acter at  that  stage  of  the  war  was  inevitable. 
Gentle  and  patient  as  President  Lincoln 
was,  he  had  indomitable  firmness  on  occa- 
sion. Only  four  days  after  Butler  had  with- 
drawn with  his  transports,  Porter  had  a  mes- 


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Hearst's  Magazine 


sage  from  the  secretary  of  the  navy  that 
Lieutenant-General  Grant  would  send  im- 
mediately "a  competent  force,  properly 
commanded,"  to  undertake  the  assault  in 
which  Butler  had  failed. 

"Properly  commanded"  meant  the  choice 
of  Major-General  A.  H.  Terry.  While  we 
mobilized  at  Beaufort  and  waited  for  his 
coming  we  labored  in  heavy  weather  getting 
coal  and  ammunition  on  board  and  a  second 
time  going  through  the  details  of  prepara- 
tions for  bombardment. 

THE    FALL    OF    FORT   FISHER 

The  fact  that  the  Confederates  had 
boasted  of  a  victory  after  Butler's  with- 
drawal— though  they  had  not  sunk  a  single 
vessel  and  had  inflicted  but  few  casualties 
and  little  damage,  while  our  troops  had  not 
attempted  an  assault — aroused  in  both  our 
army  and  navy  the  determination  to  wipe 
out  such  an  impression  promptly.  On  the 
1 2  th  of  January  we  sailed  from  our  base  at 
Beaufort,  forty-eight  men-of-war  in  all, 
escorting  the  numerous  army  transports. 
That  night  we  anchored  within  twelve 
miles  of  the  fort.  The  next  day  we  pro- 
ceeded to  take  up  our  old  positions.  As  the 
smaller  ships  were  ahead,  they  received  a 
vigorous  fire  until  the  heavier  ships  came 
up,  when  their  powerful  armament  soon 
drove  the  Confederate  gunners  into  their 
bombproofs.  Meanwhile,  Terry's  troops 
had  been  put  ashore.  This  time  there  was 
no  question  of  discretion  on  the  part  of  the 
army  commander.  Fort  Fisher  was  to  be 
taken  at  any  cost. 

As  darkness  fell  the  fleet  was  pouring  out 
ammunition  without  stint.  A  breeze  rising 
lifted  the  pall  of  smoke,  revealing  the  fort 
clearly,  lighted  by  the  flashes  of  our  shells. 
At  9  a.m.  the  next  morning,  the  14th,  the 
signal  came  from  the  flagship,  which  meant 
that  all  was  ready  to  carry  out  the  plan 
that  had  been  arranged  between  Porter  and 
Terry.  While  the  troops  assaulted  on  the 
land  side,  a  force  of  sixteen  hundred  sailors 
and  marines  were  to  assault  the  sea  face  of 
the  fort.  Every  ship  sent  its  quota.  As 
executive  officer  I  should  have  been  in 
command  of  the  Colorado's  force,  but,  de- 
spite my  plea,  Commodore  Thatcher  would 
not  let  me  go.  Being  the  senior  officer  pres- 
ent after  Porter,  if  anything  should  happen 
to  Porter  the  command  of  the  fleet  would 
fall  to  him  and,  in  consequence,  the  com- 
mand of  the  ship  to  me.  In  view  of  such  an 
(The  next  instalment  of  Admiral  Deivey  s 


eventuality  I  was  ordered  to  remain  on 
board,  much  to  my  disgust. 

The  Colorado's  part  during  the  day  was 
the  same  as  that  at  the  previous  bombard- 
ment. We  joined  the  other  ships  in  pound- 
ing the  batteries  as  hard  as  we  could  with  all 
our  guns.  How  terrific  that  bombardment 
was  may  be  realized  when  I  say  that  in 
the  two  days  Porter's  fleet  discharged  at 
Fort  Fisher  over  eighteen  thousand  shells. 

We  had  glimpses  of  the  blue  figures  of  the 
soldiers  as  they  progressed  in  taking  the 
outer  defenses,  finally  storming  their  way 
into  the  works  themselves  with  a  gallantry 
and  precision  in  the  face  of  heavy  losses 
which  would  not  be  gainsaid.  Soon  after 
nightfall  the  last  shot  in  resistance  was  fired 
from  the  fort.  The  fleet  sent  up  rockets  cele- 
brating the  victory  won  by  an  attack  which 
must  stand  high  in  history,  both  for  its  skill 
and  its  courage.  Indeed,  the  manner  in 
which  Major-General  Terry  had  conducted 
the  whole  operation  was  significant  of  the 
efficiency  of  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
veteran  army  which  was  the  instrument 
with  which  Grant  won  peace  at  last. 

AT    THE    CLOSE    OF    THE   WAR 

What  Appomattox  was  for  the  Federal 
army,  Fort  Fisher  was  for  the  Federal  navy. 
Professionally  the  war  had  meant  nearly 
four  years'  training  for  me  as  an  executive 
officer.  Had  I  had  my  choice  of  experience 
it  could  not  have  been  better  in  its  training 
for  command.  I  knew  the  business  of  being 
the  responsible  executive  of  a  large  crew  on 
a  big  ship,  with  my  work  subject  to  the 
direction  of  an  older  head. 

Soon  after  Fort  Fisher,  Commodore 
Thatcher  was  relieved  from  the  Colorado 
and  promoted  to  acting  rear-admiral  to 
relieve  Farragut  in  command  of  the  Gulf 
Squadron.  He  wished  me  to  go  with  him 
as  his  chief  of  staff,  but  I  was  only  about  to 
receive  my  promotion  as  lieutenant-com- 
mander and  the  Navy  Department  again 
found  my  youth  an  obstacle.  And  my 
youth  in  the  eyes  of  Captain  R.  H.  Wyman, 
who  took  Thatcher's  place,  also  made  me 
unacceptable  to  him  as  executive.  In  six 
months  after  I  left  the  Colorado,  however, 
she  had  lost  a  hundred  men,  by  desertion. 
A  sort  of  left-handed  promotion  took  me  to 
the  Kearsage,  the  victor  over  the  Alabama, 
as  executive,  and  I  was  aboard  her  on  that 
happy  day  for  the  Union  cause  when  we 
dressed  ship  in  honor  of  Lee's  surrender. 
Autobiography  will  appear  in  November)  Srf* 


